Cleansing article



July 26, 1938. s. w. BROOKS I CLEANSING ARTICLE Original Filed Feb. 10, 1936 Mpg/@0756,

Patented July 26, 1938 PATENT OFFICE CLEANSING ARTICLE George W. Brooks, Grange, 111., assignor to The S. 0. S. Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Original application February 10, 1936, Serial No. 63,133, now Patent No. 2,079,690, dated May 11-, 1937. Divided and this application April 9,

1937, Serial No. 135,8

2 Claims. (Cl. 15-122) The present invention relates to the art of cleansing articles.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a novel cleansing article of the type composed of a mass of metallic fibres or filaments and soap.

In the use of cleansing articles composed of metal fibres, usually designated steel wool although the fibres may be of any metal desired or even of non-metallic substance but having the physical characteristics of metal fibres, and a distribution of soap throughout the fibrous mass and adhering to or held therein by the fibres, the

soap component becomes used up when the metallic wool part has been only partly used up.

The present invention comprehends as a novel feature thereof a double distribution of soap in the wool mass with a double interspersion of voids affording access of water to the soap, the soap of one distribution being in the outer portion of the wool mass and near and at the working surface thereof to act as an immediate or primary supply of soap, and the soap of the other distribution being located within the wool mass to act as a reservoir or secondary supply of soap for the primary supply surrounding it.

The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a pad or body of metal wool fibres and soap of different characteristics distributed throughout the extent of the metal wool pad or body in two distinct portions of the pad or body. The inner portion of the pad or body is provided with a soap distribution having a slower rate of dissolving than that of the outer portion, and said outer portion wholly incloses said inner portion,

the greater part of the soap in each portion being in the form of coatings about most of the fibres and so arranged as to provide spaces or voids between and among the coated fibres. The coatings in the inner portion may be of substantially the same thickness or thinner than, or even thicker than, the coatings of the outer portion. So far as weight or volume may be concerned, there may be an equal, lesser, or greater amount of the soap in the inner portion, yet, it is of such a chemical nature as to dissolve more slowly than the soap of the outer portion, thereby acting as a.

reserve supply for the outer portion of the pad or Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view taken in a plane represented by line ll in Fig. 2 of the drawing;

Fig. 2.is a vertical sectional view taken in a plane represented by line 2-2 in Fig. 1 of the drawing;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale showing the 'difierence between the soap portions and voids in the secondary and primary supplies or distributions.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, the

various embodiments of my invention are shown in the conventional form of a pad of compressed metal wool or filaments and soap associated therewith, as agglutinated thereto or held thereby, the product having a texture or skeletal structure, somewhat like a sponge, with innumerable interspersed voids I and I, the soap 3 concentrated in the inner portion being of different character or-chemical nature than the soap 3 in the outer portion of the article, the metal wool filaments 2 acting as the supporting or reinforcing means with which the soap 3 and 3 has become associated.

The association of the soap with the metal wool fibres or filaments does not appear to be regular but seems to be in the form of coatings 3 and 3. The soap may so agglutinate or coalesce as to adhere or cling to two or more filaments or may break away from said filaments and thus appear to be suspended or held between or among two or more metal wool fibres or filaments. The form of these associated coatings are varied, in some cases seeming to be filmy, in others filamentous, and others granular. These concentrated coatings are small and in this invention are not greater in size than grains of wheat or rice or the like. These soap coatings assist in protecting the metal wool filaments from rusting or corroding or the like. p

In use the article is wetted with water so that the water will permeate through the voids or part of them so as to dissolve some of the soap, particularly the coatings 3 to form a soap solution and suds. The article is then applied to the surface of the object to be cleansed, only a part of the coatings 3 dissolving and being used up, the metal fibres or filaments functioning to mechanically cut or scrape the dirt and the like to be removed. As the primary soap coatings 3 become dissolved and used up some of the soap coatings 3 will be softened by the water and will feed into the adjacent portion of the wool mass and agglutinate, on drying. to the filaments thereof to gradually replace or replenish the soap coatings already dissolved and used up. In this way the pad has a longer life so that by the time the soap in the secondary supply or distribution becomes exhausted or used up, the wool mass also has become used up.

The advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention belongs. An important advantage is that it furnishes soap in a readily dissolvable form as contrasted with a cake of soap or a plurality of chunks of soap, and at the same time provides a flexible or yieldable pad.

This is a division of my copending application Serial No. 63,133, filed February 10, 1936, for Cleansing article, which issued May 11, 1937, as Patent No. 2,079,600.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described an operative manner of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made, or-all of the forms of its use, what is claimed is:

1. A combined metal wool and soap cleaning pad comprising a body of metal wool with soap distributed throughout its extent in two distinct portions, one portion entirely inclosing and surrounding the other portion to provide an inner and an outer" portion, most of the soap in each portion being in the form of coatings about substantially all of the fibres of the metal wool and providing voids among the coated fibres, the soap coatings of the inner portion being of such different character from the soap coatings of the outer portion as to provide an inner soap distribution having a slower rate of dissolving and hence forming a reserve soap supply for the outer portion of the pad.

2. A combined metal wool and soap cleaning pad comprising a body of metal wool with soap distributed throughout its extent in two distinct portions, one portion entirely inclosing and surrounding the other portion to provide an inner and an outer portion, most of the soap in each portion being in the form of coatings about substantially all of the fibres of the metal wool and providing voids among the coated fibres, the soap coatings of the inner portion being of such difierent chemical character from the soap coatings of the outer portion as to provide an inner soap distribution having a slower rate of dissolving and hence forming a reserve soap supply for the outer portion of the pad.

GEORGE W. BROOKS. 

